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Hello, found what I think are nautiloids and brachiopods. I found the rock in a stream and I can't say what limestone (maybe brush creek or pine creek), but the area is Glenshaw Formation in northern Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It's quite difficult for me to get good pictures, let alone good pictures with scale, so I'll tell you that the first two pictures are 2 cm (same organism), the second is 5.5 cm and the largest Nautilus in the last pictures is about 6 cm. All information is appreciated, thanks!

Hi All, I have a bunch of brachiopods that got separated from their data and was hoping someone here might be able to restore some of it. They are apparently Paleozoic and likely from the US midwest. I see probable productids and maybe rhynconellids in there, but my knowledge of brachiopods is pretty limited. I strongly suspect they are all from one locality. Any help with locality, age, or taxa would be greatly appreciated! Best, Carl

A few days ago, I went with @Tales From the Shale and another friend on a fossil hunting trip to a Bond Formation Roadcut in Oglesby, Illinois with rocks dating around 307-303 Million years ago, to the Pennsylvanian section of the Carboniferous era. We worked for at least 5 to 6 hours, but it was worth it! This was one of the best fossil hauls I've had in a long time at that location! The true gem of that trip was this Cladodont tooth I discovered by sheer accident!!! The specimen may come from the Shark Gilkmanius, but I'm not too sure? The top part of the tooth might still be inside the rock. I found some of the largest crinoid stems I've ever recovered from this locality. Again, I'm not sure their genus identity?

This Saturday I went over to Oglesby again joined this time by fellow user @Joseph Fossil. We hunted for about six hours straight, the trip being the most productive I've had here. I showed him and his friend what to look for when searching for Chondricthyan teeth. Joe collected 2 Cladodont teeth, and we both walked out with two partial Petalodus specimens. Here's a very complete Echinaria. Neospirifir dunbari, they'll look nice when prepped and put back together. An Antiquatonia portlockianus Linoproductus cora A pair of Parajuresania nebrascensis Composita argentia: A few of these I found had their brachidiums intact. Chonetina flemingi: Found this by mistake while washing material at home. Petalodus ohioensis: Long have I searched for this fish, and here it is. Wilkingia terminalis: easily my favorite find from this location. It's like an ancient razor clam analogue. Always a pleasure to hunt with fellow forum members. Having the company can make the long drives not feel as so. He and I have made arrangements to hunt more of his homestate in the future. Edit: Images added for clarity on the *tooth* pictured below. Found in some rubble, within the shale layer of the locality. Some form of texture is visible from the top of the piece. Top down: From the side: Upside down + a brachiopod for comparison: It appears to be flat, with some depth in its shape taking the form of ridges on the face. There are what appear to be some form of serrations on the *top* end of the structure as pointed out above.

I found lots of these guys while searching in the Hungry Hollow formation near Arkona. Age is Middle/Upper Devonian.

Over labor day weekend my wife and I decided to go camping at Crystal lake in the big snowy mountains near Lewiston Mt. We got there late Friday night to get a camping spot and Saturdays morning we decided to hike to some Ice caves that were 5 miles away. Along which there were ample exporsures of mississipian madison limestone. About a mile in I turned over a rock during a water break and there was my first brachiopod. Now that we knew what were were looking for we kept our eyes peeled and were rewarded with this large hash plate full of brachiopods that I think some are spirifera. 100 feet further and my wife found this large hash plate that was much to big to carry but had some large external molds on it. I was thrilled with what we had found so far but got even better in the format of some gorgeous and delicious sarcodon imbricatus, and some dried out ramaria coral mushrooms The later of which has several edible and poisonous species. We finally made it to the Ice caves and were rewarded with one of the most beautiful ice caves I've ever seen. The way back was uneventful with the exception of my dog Koda who got a little tired and needed to be carried for a while. The next day we hiked around crystal lake and enjoyed the views as well as fitting in a little more fossil hunting where we found a very pretty fenestella specimen, a plate with a bit of coral? And my wife found a rock that looked to be covered in tiny crinoid columns. While that was the end of hunting on Monday we drove out to Jordan to meet a lovely rancher and TFF member whom I bought some plaster jackets from to work on while my wife is on her clinical rotations for PA school all winter. I will make another post in the preparation section when I get around to working on them. But they they appear to be a hadrosaurid pubis and a bundle of ribs that might be pachycephalosaurus according to the seller.

I recently came across a new locality that exposes a calcareous section of the Red Mountain Formation. After braving poison oak, wasp attacks, swarms of gnats, and spiders, I've come out with some spectacularly preserved brachiopods, especially for this formation. I believe Dolerorthis sp.? Resserella sp. Not quite sure, looks like some kind of orthid. Leptaena sp. Another unknown orthid. A really well preserved Lingula sp. Slabs like this are fairly common, but the rock is so fragile it's difficult to get any back in one piece. The one piece in the bottom right caught my eye since it looks superficially like a Bumastus sp. fragment. Could be a brachiopod, though exposures I've found in similar rocks (also in the Red Mountain Formation) have turned up abundant trilobite remains, including Bumastus sp. Besides brachiopods, I've found a few other things. An interesting bryozoan? I'm not the best with colonial animals like this. A plate with several Hormotoma subulata(?) Hope you all enjoyed the photos! Please let me know if you think you have any IDs, I'm not too confident on some of these.

Cephalopods Bivalves Brachiopods Gastropods Coral(wearing a sponge hat) Geodized sponge Geode

Howdy! Split some limestone (I think it's Brush Creek) to find dozens of poorly preserved brachiopods and now I need some help IDing. Thanks in advance for any help. @cngodles

On my eighth trip to the locality, I collected fossils at the famous St. Leon roadcut. Exposed were the Waynesville and Liberty formations, which date to the immense coral reefs of the upper Ordovician, or 450 ±5 MYA. The site was heavily picked, its erosive forces slowed during Indiana's summer heat. My drops of sweat evaporated on the sun-tempered limestone faster than I could count to ten. Despite the setbacks, acquisitions were generous. Best for last. Behold my brachiopods. The top row is Strophomena sp., the top-left sample demonstrating encrusting bryozoan. The second row is Vinlandostrophia ponderosa. The third and fourth rows are Lepidocyclus/Hiscobeccus, though I am of the opinion the genera are synonymous and are just sexual dimorphs given their identical ages, appearances, and regional occurrences. I am curious what other brachiopod enthusiasts think of this similarity. (Four boxes on the grid is 25 millimeters.) I continue with the bivalves. The top row is Caritodens sp, the top-left sample being a particularly well-preserved example. The bottom-left sample is Anomaladonta sp., and the bottom-right sample is a near-perfect Ambonychia sp. Life is incomplete without the gastropods! I didn't take French in high school for nothing! The top sample is unknown to me, despite being the second I have found of its type. The middle-left sample is too buried. The remaining four are all Paupospira sp., the middle sample being a good example. Interestingly, the bottommost Paupospira has a partial Flexicalymene sp. trilobite cephalon on it, which makes me question if the trilobite was consuming the calcium to augment its own development. However, considering the sample is a messy storm deposit, it is likely pure luck. I have to mention the numerous Isotelus maximus fragments at the site. When looking for fossils at St. Leon, one must wonder how many beautiful I. maximus lie under the surface, only to crumble down the slopes of the roadcut and into my hands. Of interest is the long, delicate genal spine on the top right. Now to the more interesting fossils. I follow with three of six total straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopods. The middle sample is a rare, (calcified) Anaspyroceras sp., and the right sample is also calcified. The beautiful, ancient calcite crystals within the dull-appearing right sample: Now to the next three. The left orthocone is all associated and is very large. The middle sample is also quite large. Species-level identification of orthocones can be difficult even with a clear cross-section of the siphuncle, so "straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopod" will have to suffice. However, I suspect these three samples are likely Treptoceras sp. Excellent samples to say the least. I kept saying "straight-shelled," so perhaps some of you guessed it: I found a coiled nautiloid cephalopod! These are very rare. I have found only a handful of these. Behold the curved Beloitoceras sp., a member of Oncocerida, to which the modern nautilus owes its existence to! It's unbelievable how this rock from half a billion years ago directly led to the existence of modern nautiloids! The continuity of life is incredible. The penultimate is a bryozoan fan. Yes, a fan! The bryozoan tapers off at the upper edges. I have never seen anything like it! It is 8x4 cm. And finally... ...a giant bryozoan! This is my biggest single fossil find ever! The caliper on the left is set all the way out to 15.00 cm! It is easily 15 inches in diameter and four inches thick! After crashing my bicycle a few weeks ago, this immense find could be my new wheel! Hear me out. In ten years of collecting, I have found many rare trilobites, behemoth cephalopods, and more, but this colony of tens of thousands of individual animals takes the cake for the most interesting fossil I've ever had the privilege to collect. On top of being huge and complete, it's riddled with trypanites (trace burrows for you bone hunters out there) from all a manner of creatures that used to reside in the Ordovician. I'm sure my fellow amateur paleontologists appreciate that this isn't just a fossil coral, it's an entire ecosystem! It's literally a window into life 450 million years ago! It's riddled with traces left by crinoid stems, scolecodonts (boring worms), parasitic encrusting bryozoans, brachiopods, bivalves, and so much else! I'm considering donating it to a museum. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed.

In the summer of 2020 jpc and I had planned to get together in Eastern Wyoming to collect. That trip was unfortunately aborted by the coronavirus outbreak that year. This year, that conversation resumed and a new plan for a three day excursion in June emerged. I decided to make it a two week long car trip, driving all the way from New York, a longer car trip than any I've made in the past 25 years. That would afford me the opportunity to stop at some other sites on the way there and back, plus see some family. Another big reason for driving was an opportunity to visit and collect at the Big Cedar Ridge Cretaceous plant site. Having the car would afford me the opportunity to bring the necessary tools and be able to transport the fragile specimens safely. The rising price of gasoline certainly had an impact, and my plan was to cut costs as much as possible wherever I could. Part of that plan was camping 10 nights I departed the suburbs of New York City on Saturday, June 11th. That evening I arrived at Sturgis, MI, just off interstate 80. Spent the night in a motel and headed off the next day, driving through the heart of Chicago enshrouded in mist. It was my very first time driving through that city. I headed north and in the middle of the day arrived at my cousin's place in Madison, WI. He had moved there from Manhattan five years ago to teach music at the University of Wisconsin. This was my first time visiting him there, my first time in Wisconsin, actually. He took me on a lovely tour of the school and the town. I spent the night and was on my way again just before noon the next day. It rained off and on as I drove through Western Wisconsin and crossed the Mississippi into Dubuque, Iowa. From there it was a short drive to my first fossil stop- at Graf. This Upper Ordovician site in Maquoketa Formation is famous for its nautiloid death assemblage. I have found quite a few nautiloids over the course of my collecting career, but I've never encountered a site where they are thoroughly dominant. There was a layer of limestone, a few feet thick that was in many places just packed with their shells.

I recently acquired this little lot of Ordovician fossils but the info I received was somewhat lacking and mixed up. I hate to ask this because I feel like I should have gotten all the info to begin with, and having not gotten it, I figured I would have no trouble piecing it together. I think I have gotten past the spelling mistakes and such but I am stuck at this point.... Could anyone check to see if the info I have on these is correct, and maybe narrow down the locations, and tell me which subspecies of Vinlandostrophia is which? I wouldn't be surprised if the original collector is a member here and might recognize the fossils and the cat #s... The info as I have it is as follows: 1. Snail: Cyclonema sp. (what species? is it known?) Richmondian, Liberty Fm SW Ohio (what location?) 2. Coral (encrusting a brachiopod): Protaraea sp. (what species? I'll try for closer shots if needed but I am lacking my good camera + macro lens) Richmondian (uppermost), Whitewater Fm. SE Indiana (what location?) 3. Coral, Grewingkia sp. (canadensis?) Richmondian, Whitewater Fm. SE Indiana (same location as 2, I assume) 4. Orthocone, Treptoceras sp. Cincinnatian: Edenian, Kope Fm. SW Ohio (what location?) 5. Brach, Hebertella occidentalis Cincinnatian: Maysvillian Mt. Auburn Fm (member of Grant Lake Fm?) N. Kentucky (what location?) 6 and 7 are Vinlandostrophia ponderosa, one is supposedly subspecies ponderosa and the other auburnensis but not sure which is which. The info I received had Bellevue as the formation for the auburnensis but I gather that subspecies only occurs in the Mt Auburn mbr, no? (Location, N. Kentucky) The V. ponderosa ponderosa is said to be from the Corryville Mbr of Grant Lake Fm, N. Kentucky. Here are the Vinlandostrophias from multiple angles:

FINALLY getting around to posting about my first time ever fossil hunting in Oklahoma! Went on an extended weekend with the Paleontological Society of Austin to a variety of locales in Central OK - places I have heard about, read about and dreamed about going! I finally made it! And it was so very worth the drive, even if I did end up with a stupid cold the last two days (the drive home was a little....weird. Cold "fugue" makes for interesting driving- I really don't remember much of it, which is either good or bad....) But the FOSSILS! I've never hunted the Ordovician and Silurian so it was a real treat to find some new fauna. Of course I also brought home some micro matrix to extend my "hunting" fun. I was happy to find what I most wanted - a decent flat trilo and some good rollers. The rollers still need to be prepped a bit, but that is not my forte, so I have to find someone to get it done for me. But I also found some great stuff I wasn't expecting to find! I got there a day early and had scouted out some places to check - a lovely creek which supposedly had lots of species of trilobites, but all I found were some brachiopods and such. It was HOT. 98 degrees and humid, just like I had left behind in Central Texas. It was much greener though! Beautiful rolling hills and a lovely creek, but I didn't stay there long. I had another spot which I was pretty sure would be a winner. And yep, it was. Turned out some of the Society was there also, so I joined a half dozen of them already hunting. I was hoping to find an echinoderm called Oklahomacystis. The group had already found a half dozen or so, so I asked to see what they looked like. I had seen pictures, but it's always good to see something in the field to know what you are looking for. I was super happy to find a nice big one, fairly well preserved. I wasn't there very long, so I didn't find a lot, but I found a few nice things. Some cool Bryozoans and lovely Brachiopod with nice color: A Gastropod: The next morning was our first "official" PSoA site - Yellow Bluff. The weather took a dramatic turn overnight and we woke up to cold and drizzle! We hoped the drizzle would stay just that or quit altogether. It turned out perfect...the occasional drizzle but a wonderfully cool mid 60's day!! Apparently last time the Society had been out there it was in the 90s and miserable. So we lucked out. Yellow Bluff is on private land and we had made arrangements ahead of time. What I was NOT expecting was the scramble up a creek bank ravine followed by having to hop a barbed wire fence (which other members assured me had NOT been there before) and then found out the other group had found a much easier way up..... ah well. It was an adventure. This place is BIG...I didn't even really get to explore the Silurian stuff up above. I stayed mostly in the flat area and found wonderful crinoid parts, the occasional trilo bit, some great brachiopods and bryozoans. And FINALLY, after getting a little frustrated because all around me I hear "I found a Trilo!" (not everyone, but it seemed like it...) I finally found a whole trilobite and I have to say, it's pretty nice. cleaned up as much as I could A few more finds: A desegmented crinoid cup: a really neat little curled crinoid arm a little floating crinoid We were all looking for a newly described species of starfish that one of the PSoA members had found last time they were there - about 3 years ago. Alas, none were found. His is still the only one. I was hoping maybe this was one, but I think it's crinoid. A Gastropod Platyceras and some cool little tiny things from my micro matrix We finished out the day with some good food and conversation and got ready for the next day which I was most excited about - Black Cat Mountain! I had made arrangements to go to this amazing site and boy did it exceed my expectations. I found 49 Trilos -some just bits, but most whole! The place is enormous. Some of the group went off to hammer away at the stone to get the fossils- I prefer surface collecting. I just put my nose to the ground and found all kinds of great finds! Granted, they may not be the best finds, but I was super happy with what I found. I wasn't looking for the fancy stuff, I just wanted a couple of good rollers. I love the eyes!! And these aren't even cleaned up....just washed a nice big pygidium A Huntoniatonia impression with the part of the tail visible And of course there were some other really cool finds, like these button bryozoans: and of course a plethora of brachiopods: plus some nice size Cephalopods Oh, and last but not least, this cute tarantula and his little house: I was warned about rattlesnakes and was all prepared with my snake shin guards, but I think the temp was too cool for them so no sign of them this trip! Which was just fine with me. I'll stick with bugs and spiders, thanks so much!

I was able to take another trip to the Leighton Formation today! It's been a while since I've been able to visit (months and months), but I've finally been able to. Unfortunately, during the winter the place is completely covered in snow and ice. Not really the best collecting conditions... My last trip there was in August of last year, and the spring has been very busy. Today it was time. It was supposed to be overcast with a chance of rain, but it came out sunny and bright. Absolutely beautiful day out. The collecting was very good. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the site. I was working in the same spot as last time, and at another outcrop a little farther down the shoreline. Place hasn't changed much, still as minuscule and weathered as ever. I had a better idea where to look though. Last time, I collected a lot, but I was mainly working in layers where the fossils were very evident. These layers contained a plethora of brachiopods, ostracods, tentaculites and other invertebrates - plus my first conodont. This time, though, I was going to try something a little different. The layers between the extremely fossiliferous layers had finer sediments, and generally seemed to keep the specimens intact better. I chose to mainly work in what I now call the "Chonetes layer". It's the only layer in these outcrops that contain Chonetes bastini brachiopods. The layer doesn't shatter as much as the other shale, so the pieces come out without a lot of cracking. It was also the same place that I found a nice trilo-bit, and I was hoping it would pay off. It did... The best finds of the day went to the trilobite cephalons. I found two Acaste cf. zerinae sp. - mostly intact, but an eye cracked off on the first, and both on the second. I was (luckily) able to find them, and I intend to glue them back on. At least the external molds are completely intact. In all of the following pictures, internal molds come first, external molds second. Cephalon #1, the one-eyed wonder. Cephalon #2 - missing both of the eyes. Sad, it would have been so nice too... Then came the pygidia - four of them! I believe that they are all the same species as the cephalons - A. zerinae - but I could be wrong. I'm sure the trilo-experts here can help me with that. Pygidium #1, the nicest one. Pygidium #2 - this little guy got a bit beat up when the rock split. Pygidium #3 - little bugger needs to be prepped a bit. Pygidium #4 - the internal mold of this cracked in half - and it's missing a piece. This one's a neat little trace fossil. It looks like an infilled burrow to me, but I'll set up a separate thread for that - with better pictures. And this very odd little guy. Another one I'll have to take better pictures on, and as soon as the matrix is pared down a bit I will scrutinize it under a microscope. It's not very evident, but it feathers out at the right end. It could be mineral staining or something, but I'm not sure yet. Then the stuff I couldn't bear to leave behind. I was trying to keep my collecting to new stuff, but some of them just sneaked in there... I feel like we've all experienced this before. Orbiculoidea sp. brachiopod. Lingula sp. brachiopod. Leiopteria rubra bivalve. It was a pretty good day. On top of these finds, I brought back some promising shale pieces to look for micro-fossils in - and a few more interesting unknowns. But that's for another time.. Thanks for reading!

Today I made a quick stop to a very small exposure of the Lower Silurian, Red Mountain Formation that is found along Dug Gap Battle Road in Dalton, Georgia. It is a nice place to stop for a few minutes. One of the nice things about this site, is the area where I park my car ,which is across the street. Here is a pic of the site- A couple closer up pics- A pic of me that my wife took from the parking area. Here are some of my finds-